


永遠

by itsukishus



Series: lesbian rarepair [2]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, in this house we love and support lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 06:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16362458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsukishus/pseuds/itsukishus
Summary: Shu, on occasion, had trouble sleeping. When she was living at home, before England, she’d normally get out of bed and work on one of her several projects, sometimes until she could fall asleep, sometimes until the sun was up and it was time to start getting ready for school. While she was actively in England, her plate was too full for sleep most of the time and her thought almost every single night when she was trying to get to a decent stopping point was "this is how Mao-chan feels."  Living back in Japan, in the apartment she shared with Mao and Mika, sleep came more often and better than it had the entire time she was in high school and through her first year in university.





	永遠

Shu, on occasion, had trouble sleeping. When she was living at home, before England, she’d normally get out of bed and work on one of her several projects, sometimes until she could fall asleep, sometimes until the sun was up and it was time to start getting ready for school. While she was actively in England, her plate was too full for sleep most of the time and her thought almost every single night when she was trying to get to a decent stopping point was _this is how Mao-chan feels._  Living back in Japan, in the apartment she shared with Mao and Mika, sleep came more often and better than it had the entire time she was in high school and through her first year in university.

But that didn’t change the fact that she still had bouts of insomnia and now, in a two bedroom apartment, she didn’t have the opportunity to get up and sew until her brain was quiet enough for her to relax.

So she resigned to staring at Mao. She felt creepy and borderline disgusting and almost predatory, but Mao was _comforting_ to her.

Mao felt like _home_.

There were nights that Shu lay awake, nights that she was more brave than normal, where she’d reach out and stroke Mao’s hair, not enough to wake her, _never_ enough to wake her, but enough that Shu felt comfortable, relaxed.

Two years, half of that being long distance, and Mao hadn’t changed much. Her hair was a little longer, she had grown a few centimeters, but she still woke at 5 a.m. every single morning, she still went to bed far too late at night, she still slept like the dead for the few hours of sleep that she got each night.

So Shu _could_ do this. Shu reasonably could pet her girlfriend’s hair while she was awake, if she really wanted, but even after two years, some displays of affection felt overwhelming unless they were completely alone.

They were never _completely_ alone, not with Mika living with them.

At least Mao had convinced Shu while they were still in school that Mika was far too gay to care if they kissed sometimes around her. Mika surely wouldn’t _die_ from seeing Shu get kissed once or twice or even ten times.

Shu knew, logically, that she should have tried to sleep far earlier than when she and Mao had finally gone to bed, but there was packing to be done, tickets to make sure were actually booked, and Narukami had run late from a photoshoot and most of their night was Mao making sure that Shu didn’t fall into a panic.

Shu rolled over onto her back to glance at the alarm clock; they had to be up and out of the apartment by 3:30 a.m. at the absolute latest to make it to the airport on time.

Shu groaned quietly and rolled back onto her side, trying to tug Mao a little bit closer to her without waking her to get some really high quality tired Mao snuggles before the alarm went off in six minutes.

Time passes far too slow when you’re trying to get to sleep, and far too quickly when your girlfriend wakes up from the gentle tugging and demands tired kisses.

For almost two entire years, Shu had loved this, she’d decided she was going to cherish this for an eternity; the feeling of Mao’s lips pressing to hers softly five or six times before the smaller girl sighed and decided she needed to get up and brush her teeth before Shu would kiss her properly. Shu shushed her, the alarm was going to go off soon and she wanted to spend as much time in bed with Mao as possible before they had to get up and get moving.

The alarm went off as Mao was pressing kisses to Shu’s collarbones, trying to keep her in bed as long as possible despite Shu’s protests.

Mao could only counter with _everything has been packed since last night_ for so long before Shu convinced her that she was hungry and that she _needed_ to get up.

Narukami complained about being woken up, she complained about the breakfast Mao prepared (cereal and milk, they had to be at the airport followed with _I will personally buy you a latte there, Arashi-chan_ , which appeased the Goddess for a few minutes.)

Rei had even arrived early to pick them up, and Shu thanked God that her friends knew her well enough to be early, but also to keep their destination a secret from their little sister’s best friend.

Small talk was made in the car, mostly by Rei, who was always awake at this time anyway, and Narukami looked positively murderous in the backseat.

Rei cried at the airport, clinging to Mao and talking about how grown up she had become, even though Shu glared at her through her entire tearful speech.

Narukami cried halfway through the airport, when she realized that no coffee shops were open at this time and she’d have to wait until their layover to get her promised latte.

Mao still didn’t know where they were going, she wouldn’t until their final flight.

x

It took almost 16 hours, including layovers and slight delays in flights, to even _land_ in Paris, and Shu was almost at her wit’s end just speaking with the taxi driver. She refused to translate their conversation into Japanese so the rest of the car knew what was upsetting her, and she refused to speak to anyone until after they’d checked into their hotel rooms and she’d finally been able to take a bath. The first and only thing that she’d said after that was _goodnight Mao-chan, I love you_ , and she’d promptly gotten into bed and passed out.

Mao reminded her the next morning, amused, while they were at a cafe, that Shu used to get grumpy every time they’d go to bed together if Mao didn’t give her a goodnight kiss. Shu, an adult, liked to pretend that that had never happened and she was _never_ like that in high school.

She spent the day getting dragged around by Narukami and Mika, who knew where they were going and had practically made a trip itinerary, but she really didn’t mind. Sure, she hated waiting in lines to enter the Louvre, but Mao looked absolutely adorable while trying to pretend that she cared that much about old art.

They attended a concert that night, a small local group, and bought too much merch to fit back into their luggage because they’ve been there. Shu translated the entire conversation into French for the group, telling them that they were performers, they had been since high school, and they, Mao especially, liked to support small groups with a lot of potential.

The second day of their trip is when Mao started asking about seeing the Eiffel Tower. _If we’re here, we might as well, right?_ Narukami managed to talk her out of it, saying that Shu probably couldn’t handle those crowds as well and that they were taking a day trip to Marseille (pronounced wrong, of course, it made Shu shudder) in the morning so they should _probably_ stay close to the hotel for the day.

x

Mao asked about the Eiffel Tower every day for six days until Shu caved. She’d planned it anyway, she’d had a reservation booked for the two of them in the restaurant there since before she’d even moved home from Japan. She had planned on taking Mao to the top as well, but Mao didn’t _need_ to know that, not yet.

x

Shu had saved _just enough_ money throughout her week of buying Mao gifts and refusing any payment back to afford their dinner, and she refused to let Mao see the bill or offer to pay her back before she pulled her from the restaurant and into the elevator going up. Mao was excited, she had taken Shu on a date to the Tokyo Tower once before and pretty much _lived_ for being able to see entire cities beneath her feet. It wasn’t a power trip for Mao, it was more of a reminder of sorts. She said it kept her humble. It didn’t make sense to Shu, but it made Mao happy so she didn’t mind it too much.

x

Mao was entirely awestruck at the top. Shu was holding her, chin resting on the top of her head, convinced that Mao was going to cry. (Mao was probably going to cry regardless.) They were quiet, except for the two times Mao pointed out at something and asked what it was. There weren’t too many other tourists where they were standing, so they had a little bit of space, and Shu debated as to whether or not Mao would be okay with her getting down on one knee and making a spectacle. It was doubtful, to be honest, Mao didn’t like to shove her relationship in other people’s faces. Shu took a deep breath, trying to steel herself when Mao spoke quietly.

“I love you,” was all that she said, and she spoke soft enough that the wind could have carried her voice away. Shu smiled and kissed the top of her head.

“Mao?” Mao pulled away enough to look at Shu. “I love you too.” She lifted a hand to Mao’s face. “I would spend the rest of my life with you.” Mao nodded. Shu wanted to huff, Mao was so _dumb_ sometimes that she really should have caught on to what Shu was doing. She’d _have_ to make a spectacle at this point. Mao pulled away from her entirely to lean against the rail and look over the city again. This truly was a golden opportunity for Shu, but she couldn’t convince herself to put her knee on the ground. She fumbled with her purse for a second instead, trying to find her ring.

“For reference, for the next time we visit, Shu-chan, I’m going to propose to you here.” Shu almost dropped the ring.

That sentence gave her all the mental strength that she needed to put her bare knee on the filthy ground and open the ring box and say, “You can’t propose to me here if I beat you to it.”

Mao was still looking over the city, laughing, and Shu was _this close_ to standing before Mao turned and gasped. “Oh,” was all that she said, followed a moment later by a softer “oh,” and Mao was stepping towards her, taking her hands and pulling her up for a kiss.

“I would be entirely willing to spend the rest of our forevers together, Mao-chan,” she whispered softly. Her face was wet. Were those Mao’s tears or her own?

“Forever?” Shu was nodding through Mao’s words, still trying to kiss her. “Like, _forever_ forever?”

Shu took the ring from the box. “The sizing is perfect, you know.” Mao nodded and took the ring.

“You really do mean forever,” she whispered, sliding it onto her finger and standing on her toes to kiss Shu again.

“I don’t have a forever without you.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> welcome 2 trash rarepair sequel: lesbians in paris  
> the title reads as "eien" and literally just means "forever"  
> we love and support lesbians and lesbian rarepairs and lesbians getting engaged in paris and i am cryin in the club rn  
> twitter: @hibikls  
> shoutout to the true homie eri for supplying me with delicious shumao juice ur the MVP


End file.
